Sue Sharkey cruising to re-election in 4th CD race

With a win by Heidi Ganahl, Republicans will maintain a one-vote majority on the University of Colorado's Board of Regents.

Ganahl won the race for the at-large seat on the board with 52 percent of the vote to Democrat Alice Madden's 48 percent, according to the Secretary of State's Office.

The race was decided by a statewide vote. Though Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton won Colorado with 47 percent of the vote to Republican Donald Trump's 45 percent, the regents race told a different story.

Ganahl, who founded the successful pet-care franchise Camp Bow Wow and the nonprofit Moms Fight Back, chalked her win up to a "crazy political environment" and the hard work of her supporters.

Results

CU Board of Regents — At large

Alice Madden: 1,040,955

Heidi Ganahl: 1,152,547

Source: Colorado Secretary of State

Results

CU Board of Regents — 4th Congressional District

Sue Sharkey: 219,303

Bob Owens: 117,911

Source: Colorado Secretary of State

"We just worked so hard," she said Wednesday. "We had such good volunteers and a team and we really left no stone unturned. We just talked to as many voters as we possibly could and tried to run a really good social media and internet campaign, too. I hope it's chalked up to a lot of hard work and effort by our team, but I think it's also just a crazy political environment right now. I don't think anyone could've predicted anything that happened."

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Madden represented Boulder in the Colorado Legislature from 2000 to 2008 and currently serves as executive director of the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment at CU's law school.

There are nine seats on CU's Board of Regents — seven for each of Colorado's congressional districts and two at-large seats. Ganahl and Madden were vying for the at-large seat being vacated by Republican Steve Bosley, who is term-limited.

Colorado is one of four states that elects people to govern the state's university system. CU regents set tuition prices, control the budgets, approve new degree programs and hire the university's president.

The race, which touched on topics such as climate change and the selection of CU's next president, was an expensive one that garnered national attention.

Madden said she believed she was hurt by voters, particularly Democratic voters, who did not complete the entire ballot. She said she hoped this race generated more interest in the board.

"Hopefully the profile of the regents has increased and good people will think about running in the future, which is something I had really wanted," Madden said.

She congratulated Ganahl on her campaign.

In the 4th Congressional District, Republican incumbent Sue Sharkey was on track toward easy re-election to the CU board with 65 percent of the vote to Democrat Bob Owens's 35 percent.

Sharkey was first elected in 2010 and served as the board's vice chair in 2013 and 2014. She has focused on political diversity, veteran's issues and other topics during her first term.

During the course of his campaign, Owens moved out of the 4th Congressional District and into the 6th Congressional District. He told the Daily Camera in early October that he believed he was unlikely to win the race.

In Colorado's 1st Congressional District, Democrat Jack Kroll easily won the seat on the board being vacated by Democrat Michael Carrigan, who is term-limited. Kroll, who works in the admission's office on the Boulder campus, was not facing a Republican challenger, though a write-in candidate won several hundred votes.

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